The demand to become a thinner and healthier version of yourself is ever growing.

We are all guilty of trying to become a healthier person, but for some of us it may not be an easy feat. So we look for aids.

You may have a magazine that often gives tips to become leaner with some brand new supplement recommended by a bunch of doctors, or you may often refer to television programs that gives tips on how to properly dress to hide those annoying muffin tops.

Somehow we have tried some fad diet or some wacky machine that apparently makes you shed pounds after only three minutes of use a day.

There are so many enticing options that it is hard to choose which method is best for those desired six pack abs or fit into those jeans from your earlier college days.

Not to mention some very popular and trusted characters on television advertising on weight loss aids that are "miracles in a bottle" to get you sucked into the craze of purchasing your way into fat loss (see video below).

That snake oil you ordered will most likely not help increase your metabolism and help you shed pounds. You have fallen for the oldest trick in the book, the Oz effect. All to boost sales and deliver your money into the pockets of the snake oil company.

So what now?

I am not trying to spend all this time bashing on Dr. Oz, I am simply trying to bring up a point:

"physical inactivity is one of the most important health problems of the 21st century" (Blair, 2009).

I couldn't agree more.

If my years working in the fitness industry has taught me anything, it is that people have become more and more obsessed with their physical appearance rather than their actual fitness and that people want to get the best bang for their buck.

Unfortunately, spending money on gimmicks and "lose weight quick" schemes will not give you results.

I think Dr. Mike Evans can explain my point in a much more exciting and interesting way than I can.

A pill will not make all these changes, it can and will bring about side effects that will only force you to make more trips to the doctor and get another pill to combat a different side effect.

I loved the example given in the video with the stents used to open up your clogged arteries.

Exercise not only affected the artery with the plaque build up, but the entire body as opposed to the high tech group which basically had a surgery and stent put into only one part of the body.

As a strength and conditioning coach, my goal for each of my athletes/clients is to make them perform better in their sport. If you ask me, I can guarantee that the majority of athletes are heavily invested in their performance and staying healthy rather than simply looking good naked. That is just a bonus that comes with the training. The chiseled abs and large derrieres come from the hard work put into the gym. Not one athlete can say they owe their looks to a pill they bought from a Saturday night of channel surfing.

So for all you couch potatoes, follow the advice from the advice mallard and stop looking for shortcuts.

I know, I know, you don't have the time. But if you think about it, all that time spent looking at ways to get thin and improve your health can easily be spent doing something physical.